The latest Auditor General report into the hospitals concession confirmed that the government that he led was right in dealing with the concession in the way it did, the prime minister said on Monday.
"It confirms that given that there was a pending court case and a pandemic outbreak, we were constrained to adhere to the contract while still actively looking for other options and solutions," he said in parliament.
"We were analysing the solutions, but the priority then was to care for the people's health - to protect patients from a pandemic and we didn't want to put people's health at risk."
Pulling out of the contract could also have cost the government a €100 million penalty, he said.
The prime minister made his remarks, despite Opposition objections, during what was supposed to be a debate on the financial estimates of the Environment and Resources Authority. The Speaker asked him several times to stick to the agenda item, but the prime minister carried on
The government had earlier invited the opposition to an immediate debate on the 450-page report but the opposition said it had not had time to study it, and proposed a debate on Tuesday and Wednesday instead. But the prime minister said he would be abroad.
Continuing his remarks, the prime minister said the auditor-general was so convinced that he (Abela) did nothing wrong that he did not even ask him to testify.
"The report only confirms what I always said in public and what I told reporters."
The report, he said, nullified allegations and spins that the Opposition has been levelling at the government for months.
"The Opposition's very existence is based on made up stuff," Abela said.
"I am in no way saying that the Auditor General's investigation are a report that any government will wish for. It does not say that there were no shortcomings in the concessions. There were shortcomings, and at times, not small ones, but it is far from the extremism that the Opposition is trying to convey to people."
Abela said he already apologised for the shortcomings and that he only saw the contract in its entirety for the first time when he was appointed prime minister.
"I never wanted to pay the €100 million penalty. We had to thread cautiously because one wrong move could have triggered the clause and forced us to pay it up," he said.
"And time has now confirmed that we were right."
Bernard Grech wanted to throw Clyde Caruana, Chris Fearne and me in the same basket with the others, but the report clearly distinguishes the way we acted.- Robert Abela
Still, the Opposition went to the Police Commissioner demanding an investigation because he wants to see them in prison, he said.
"Bernard Grech wanted to throw Clyde Caruana, Chris Fearne and me in the same basket with the others, but the report clearly distinguishes the way we acted," he said.
"And I am not implying anything on anyone else, but the report clearly distinguishes our actions."
Abela also accused the PN of having no plan and no real solutions to the country's challenges and that it refused to speak about the sustained economic growth and employment success.
Abela was followed by, among others, Opposition leader Bernard Grech, who repeated remarks he made earlier at a press conference.